SC8: Targeting of Ion Channels with Monoclonal Antibodies
Tuesday, September 25, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
Room: Berkeley

Instructor:

Trevor Wilkinson, PhD, Associate Director, Antibody Discovery and Protein Engineering, Medimmune Ltd., United Kingdom

Ion channels are important therapeutic targets and currently represent the second largest target class addressed by therapeutic drugs. Significant opportunities exist for targeting ion channels with antibodies, but to date it has been challenging to discover therapeutic antibodies against them. This course will examine emerging technologies and strategies for enabling the isolation of functional anti-ion channel antibodies and highlight progress via case studies. The topics to be covered include: 1) antibody discovery, including methods to generate monoclonal antibodies and antigen preparation strategies; 2) assays to enable isolation of binding antibodies, including use of recombinant stable cell lines; 3) in vitro assays to measure functional activity of the antibody, including use of electrophysiology platforms and ion flux methods; and 4) review of promising ligand-gated and voltage-gated ion channel targets and antibodies in development.

The material to be presented in this short course includes:

• Overview of ion channels including structure, mechanism and role in diseases pain, cancer and inflammation
• Methods for antibody discovery
• Antibody quality and characterization
• In vitro assays for antibody characterization
• Review of mechanisms relevant to targeting ion channels
• Review of ion channel-targeting antibodies in discovery and development

Open discussion will be actively encouraged.

Instructor Biography:

Trevor Wilkinson, Ph.D., Associate Director, Antibody Discovery and Protein Engineering, MedImmune Ltd.

Trevor is Associate Director of Protein Sciences in the Department of Antibody Discovery and Protein Engineering at MedImmune. In this role Trevor manages a team which is responsible for discovery of a variety of therapeutic biologic modalities to support Biologics Discovery projects. His previous positions include Head of Protein Sciences at Cambridge Antibody Technology and Biochemistry Team Leader at Roche Products Ltd working in the Cardiovascular, Respiratory and Virology therapy areas. Trevor holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Southampton and also an MBA from the University of Hertfordshire.